Monday - Friday, 6-9 a.m.

Host Tom Temin brings you the latest news affecting the federal community each weekday morning, featuring interviews with top government executives and contractors. Listen live from 6 to 9 a.m. or download archived interviews below.

The Federal Headlines is a daily compilation of the stories you hear discussed on Federal News Radio each day. It is designed to give FederalNewsRadio.com readers more information about the stories heard on the radio. In today's news, the Senate Armed Services Committee unanimously approves Ash Carter to be the next Defense Secretary

The Defense Department provides a number of programs to support military families. One program focuses on spouses, who face a number of challenges in developing a career. The My Career Advancement Account is designed to help military spouses further their education, and secure better employment. But a new study shows only one in five spouses uses the program. Laura Miller, a senior military sociologist at the RAND Corporation, joined the Federal Drive with Tom Temin with more on MyCAA, and why it's not more widely used.

A new cloud computing provider has gotten the go-ahead to sell its services to the federal government. Software vendor VMWare, partnering with hardware infrastructure provider Carpathia, now has approval under the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP). Lynn Martin is the Vice President of the U.S. Public Sector at VMWare. She joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive to elaborate on the new partnership.

Good help is hard to find. That's especially true at federal agencies looking for smarts in cybersecurity and financial auditing. The latest look-see by the Government Accountability Office shows a number of mission-critical skills gaps in federal agencies. What can agencies do to fill the gaps? Robert Goldenkoff, the director of Strategic Issues at GAO, joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive to offer some answers.

Contractors hate rejection when they've spent time and money preparing bids. Sometimes they're tempted to go to Congress and complain. Bad idea. Tim Sullivan is a partner at the law firm Thompson Coburn, and author of the blog, "A Government Contractor's 10 Commandments." On the Federal Drive with Tom Temin, he tackled the sixth commandment: Thou shalt avoid political intervention. Companies who try to get their Congressman involved may find that move will come back to bite them.

The Army's been working for the past several years on a more "comprehensive" approach to fitness — instead of one that measures how many pushups a soldier can do or how quickly she can run a mile. But when it comes to the overall health of the force, the Army's surgeon general says her biggest concern is how much sleep soldiers are getting each night. It's not enough. Federal News Radio's Jared Serbu writes about it in this week's edition of inside the reporter's notebook. He joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive to explain.

The Federal Headlines is a daily compilation of the stories you hear discussed on Federal News Radio each day. It is designed to give FederalNewsRadio.com readers more information about the stories heard on the radio. In today's news, President Obama asks Germany for the benefit of the doubt on National Security Agency surveillance, the second-highest ranking official at the Secret Service is stepping down and the Fish and Wildlife Service will spend $3.2 million dollars to help save the monarch butterfly.

Members of the Senior Executive Service have had a rough year or two. Now political leaders from both the White House and Congress offer up ways to improve the SES. There's the mundane, such as the White House is launching a candidate development program. And the punitive — legislation that would make it easier to fire SES members when things go wrong. Today, Federal News Radio launches a special series called "Fixing the SES." We'll bring you the voices of those who know the system best — current and former SES members. We start with former acting IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel. He was an SES member before becoming a political appointee. He's now an outside consultant. On the Federal Drive with Tom Temin, Werfel told reporter Emily Kopp that SES members are older and under more stress than ever before.

Food and Drug Administrator Dr. Margaret Hamburg is stepping down at the end of March after nearly six years on the job. Chief Scientist Dr. Stephen Ostroff will serve as interim commissioner until a full-time replacement is found. What sort of legacy is Hamburg leaving behind? Dr. Paul Howard, a health policy expert and senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive to offer some insight.

A Navy scientist won the 2014 NATO Science and Technology Organization's Scientific Achievement Award. The award recognizes outstanding contributions to aerospace science and technology or aerospace systems applications. The winner was Steve Anderson, a Principal Scientist with the Naval Surface Warfare Center. He joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive to detail how he won.

NASA and Microsoft have teamed up on a project to let scientists and astronauts walk virtually on Mars. Project OnSight employs new, wearable technology just released last month. For more on the program and its possibilities, Jeff Norris, NASA's OnSight program manager, joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive.

The Federal Headlines is a daily compilation of the stories you hear discussed on Federal News Radio each day. It is designed to give FederalNewsRadio.com readers more information about the stories heard on the radio. In today's news, a Senate committee approves legislation to strengthen the Freedom of Information Act, Homeland Security officials are starting to warn about the consequences of a lapse in funding and the Postal Service sees a 4.3 percent boost in revenue in the first quarter of fiscal 2015.

Right out of a science fiction novel, the Navy and Marine Corps are investing millions of dollars in unmanned helicopters, jeeps and boats. The scientists and technologists were in full geek mode as they discussed the next generation of vehicles and weapons at the recent Naval Future Force Science and Technology Expo. Federal News Radio's executive editor Jason Miller visited the expo. On the Federal Drive with Tom Temin, he shared some of the descriptions the experts behind these technology innovations gave him.

The 2016 budget calls for a 1.3 percent pay raise for federal employees. That's assuming it passes. But what do you and your colleagues think about it? And, how are you responding to the President's plan overall? Federal News Radio Web Manager Julia Ziegler joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive to relay some of your comments.

A call for more transparency in federal spending, the Taxpayers Right To Know Act would create a central database for financial data and performance metrics for every federal program. The bill cleared the House and the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee last year. But it has yet to have a full vote in the Senate. Hudson Hollister, executive director of the Data Transparency Coalition, joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive to offer one view on this bill.

Its original intention was ostensibly to help protect the U.S. from terrorist threats. But Edward Snowden's reveal of the extent of the National Security Agency's bulk telephone records program planted seeds of doubt in many minds. Records indicate the NSA was even monitoring domestic calls. Sharon Bradford Franklin is the executive director of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board. She joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive with more on the bulk data collection program, and whether it should even continue.

The Federal Headlines is a daily compilation of the stories you hear discussed on Federal News Radio each day. It is designed to give FederalNewsRadio.com readers more information about the stories heard on the radio. In today's news, five female officers completed the latest Army prep course for Ranger School, the White House names a long time industry technologist as the next federal chief information officer and Senate Democrats block a Republican bid to fund the Homeland Security Department for the third day in a row.

The Social Security Administration is shedding its reputation as an agency stuck in the 1980s when it comes to IT. SSA cobbled together a few leftover computers and took advantage of an open source platform to develop a new approach to conquering its big data problem. Ann Am-Rhein is SSA's deputy associate commissioner for the Office of Earning, Enumeration and Administrative systems. Ron Sikes is SSA's director of business intelligence and analytics. They tell Federal News Radio Executive Editor Jason Miller why their new approach earned honors in the Igniting Innovation awards.

The Army is planning a significant technical overhaul of the way its headquarters staff commands and controls the missions of soldiers in the field. As Federal News Radio's DoD Reporter Jared Serbu reports, the next time an division of soldiers goes into combat, a good chunk of them might be telecommuting.

President Barack Obama's executive orders on immigration have had reverberations
throughout the federal government. They've drastically changed the way Border
Patrol and Immigration officers do their jobs. The changes also heavily impacted
immigration judges, delaying many of their thousands of pending cases by as much
as five years. On the Federal Drive with Tom Temin, Judge Dana Leigh Marks, president of the National Association of Immigration Judges, explained just how overloaded the court systems already are.